hi

[brewsters_minion]

wife got me a still for my birthday made up 2 bottles of caramel stuff so far from a sugar wash
please be gentle on me
its only 10L and from ebay ebay.com/itm/401106463558
what are your thoughts please be brutal as im new at this

[Bushman]

Welcome to the forum, link does not work can you post a picture?

[rad14701]

Greetings, brewsters_minion...

Yet another new member with one of those pathetic Chinese stills... You're not alone in getting ripped off, regardless of who spent the money... We get a novice here about once a week who has either purchased or is contemplating the purchase of one of the several models that the Chinese are peddling... It'll work but you need to check it for synthetics and replace any found... And I have a feeling you'll be upgrading in the not too distant future...

Good luck, stay safe, and enjoy the journey...

[MichiganCornhusker]

As mentioned, get any synthetic materials out of the vapor path.
Also, if you did not do a series of cleaning runs, don't drink what you've already run.

Don't be frustrated by your still's limitations, make it safe, and use it to explore the hobby.
If you get hooked, you will no doubt go searching for a replacement still soon, but by then, after some reading here on this site, you will have a good idea of what to buy/build next.
Good luck, keep us posted.

[brewsters_minion]

hi all and thanks for the replies!
sorry for no pics but need to work out how to take 2mb pictures
I have cleaned the still and run a bottle. of vodka through as a sacrifice to the gods just to make sure it did actually work.
I've only ran it twice for a drinkable beverage as it's proving to be able to keep me in a bottle of spirits once a week or 2.
so far I made a 15% sugar wash and have been distilling 5l at a time. throwing the first 100 ml into a separate bottle
the calc page says I don't need to worry about tails ?
tried a stripping run and got about 50% abv (using the alcometer) that's I've been watering down to about 20-26% adding 2 teaspoons of caramel flavouring (food flavours from the baking section) 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of glycerine per bottle
(my brother in law makes fishing boilies so has loads of flavourings I want to try out in the future )
I still have alot to learn though
thanks for the warm welcome
[bg=][/bg]

[rad14701]

15% is on the high side and you'll have better tasting spirits if you back down a bit on the target %ABV... 14% is the recommended maximum but 10% - 12% will yield cleaner spirits with less ending up as foreshots, heads, and tails, and more clean hearts, proportionately...

Are you making any cuts other than your initial foreshots cut...??? You should be making foreshots, heads, hearts, and tails cuts...

[GrassHopper]

Welcome to HD,
You don't need to take 2 meg pix. You can optimize any photo (even a 10 meg) to the necessary size to fit HD's requirements. ( I think it is no bigger than 500 pixels wide?) Just upload your photo to a free photo optimizer (search web) and follow simple instructions to the size you want and it will do it for ya and then save it back to a folder. There is also instructions on how to do it here in HD. I'll see if I can find it for ya.

[brewsters_minion]

http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayIS ... 0841609902" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

hopefully you can see it now

[brewsters_minion]

Thanks grasshopper that would be really helpful I'm a whizz on pc but only have my phone available atm

[rad14701]

Please figure out how to upload images locally, not on external hosting sites... Many here, including myself, will not view externally hosted images for security reasons... You'll have to figure it out like everyone else has had to... Only having a dumbphone is not a valid excuse... There are topics on the subject of posting pictures...

I've already viewed the still on eBay by tweaking your original link...

We consider Forum Rules, Notifications and Helpful Hints to be part of your mandatory reading... But that's just a very small fraction of what we consider mandatory...

[brewsters_minion]

15% is on the high side and you'll have better tasting spirits if you back down a bit on the target %ABV... 14% is the recommended maximum but 10% - 12% will yield cleaner spirits with less ending up as foreshots, heads, and tails, and more clean hearts, proportionately...

Are you making any cuts other than your initial foreshots cut...??? You should be making foreshots, heads, hearts, and tails cuts...

sorry missed your reply there rad14701 i had initially made the wash up for a vodka shot recipe from a kit you can buy here in the uk just incase still didnt work ect so i could just add finnings and flavour/sugar and get a rough product.
i have been trying my best at cuts and throw away the first 100ml for safety! then the buttery stuff get put in a separate bottle to be used in later.
then i collect the hearts and run out of time so have not experienced the wet dog/cardboard smell coming off the still yet!

once still has cooled down and ive gone to clean her up i can still smell some alcohol in the wash so i dont think im getting all the hearts out
what i have sampled has been very clean tasting and not had any after the night before effects but im not getting "tipsy" on it just having 1 or 2 of a evening
i.e 50ml in a pint of cola per drink
the hearts do smell of a cheap vodka though now ive just sniffed the bottle

[brewsters_minion]

finally got on my laptop and im able o share the picture !

bottle on the left is the caramel i made up
a 500ml jar for colletion i mark off 100ml gradients using a sharpie then clean it off with foreshots
my alcometer in a glass (not used for drinking while i still)
bottle on the right is my hearts
and the big metal shiney thing is the shame ive brought here

edit: forgot to take pic of the foreshots heads ect but i have collected about 700ml of those in a bottle

i would also like to add i do deliverys for a distillery (small artisan copper pot small batches 200l a time) and my wife fallen in love with there rum(won rumfest in hk recently) and old fashioned toffee vodka so i am trying to replicate those in the future and the owner is helping me go legal ! (for personal use)